Zdenek Zahradnik studied composition at the Music Faculty of Performing Arts in Prague with Václav Dobiáš (1954-1958). After graduation he was teaching at the People's Conservatory, later at the State Conservatory in Prague, where he had taught music theory, harmony and counterpoint. Alongside his teaching activities he was also employed as musical director and later also as record producer at the recording company Supraphon (since 1967). As music director he has been working after 1990 at various record companies (Gramofonove zavody Lodenice, MusicVars, Clarton, Arta Records, Multisonic, etc.). He made a number of valuable recordings with renowned orchestras, chamber ensembles, soloists as well as many leading Czech and foreign conductors (Karel Ančerl, Václav Neumann, Václav Smetáček, Jaroslav Krombholz, František Jílek, Zdeněk Košler, Rafael Kubelík, Libor Pešek, Jiří Bělohlávek, Zdeněk Mácal, Bohdan Warchal, Sir Charles Mackerras and Serge Baudo). He was particularly involved in directing of the opera recordings projects (Smetana: The Bartered Bride, Dalibor, Libuše, Hubička; Mozart: The Magic Flute; Fibich: Šárka; Foerster: Eva; Martinù: The Miracles of Mary, The Greek Passions; Janáček: The Fate) as well as in the recording of great symphonic works (Smetana: The Motherland; Dvořák's, Martinù's and Mahler's Symphonies), many of which have won international recognition and awards. Zahradník's first wife was a foremost Czech sopranist Eva Depoltova who was the first performer of most of his vocal compositions. He has written works in many forms, but his most acclaimed compositions as yet belong to a genre of concert melodrama. Since 2009 he is the chairman of the Czech Composers' Society at the Association of Musical Artists and Scientists.